1/24/26
Hello, friends. Let’s start this week’s report off with a look at one of our new young missionaries. Elder Pedroza came to Iceland last week to begin his service here. He immediately moved to Selfoss to work with his companion, Elder Benzley, covering south Iceland. They will both attend and serve in the Selfoss branch as well. On Sunday Todd and I also attended the Selfoss branch. A young branch member, Cedric, is preparing to receive the Aaronic priesthood and Todd was working with President Bragi to do Cedric’s interview and help him prepare to receive the priesthood.
As we sat in sacrament meeting I watched Elder Pedroza get right to work. He speaks Spanish and English and he is learning Icelandic. Elder Benzley speaks English and Icelandic. As Elder Benzley translated the Icelandic to English, Elder Pedroza heard that translation and in turn translated to Spanish! It was an impressive feat!
One sister in the Selfoss branch, Yissenny, speaks just a little bit of English and Icelandic. But she does speak Spanish! She was so grateful to have a Spanish speaking missionary back in their branch so she can understand what is being said and participate more. We are glad to have Elder Pedroza here. He is needed.
We had a little bit of work to do in the Reykjavik 1st branch as well on Sunday so after the Selfoss meetings ended we went back to the city in time to catch the end of the 1st branch meetings. There was a potluck after church and we were able to make our appointments and do a bit of work with the members while enjoying the meal.
We were back at the church Monday evening for our YSA institute night. I made dinner, Todd taught class, and the Spirit helped us all learn. During the thirty minute class I had a few minutes to knit, adding on one stitch at a time and making slow progress! After class and dinner the ping pong table and board games came out and everyone had a good time together.
As we packed up the car to head home we saw a faint aurora above us at the church. We’ve learned to bring the cameras with us when we go out so we took a detour on our way home to see if we could catch a better view of her. We’re so glad we did!
Earlier in the day Monday the sun released a massive solar flare that led to the largest coronal mass ejection in over twenty years resulting in beautiful aurora. It was different from any we’ve seen before, less defined and not a just a green ribbon. It was more of a red and green cloud with shimmering streaks in it. It was very bright, we could see all the colors with the naked eye. We spent a wonderful hour observing it and Todd got beautiful pictures. Here are just a few of them.
Here is an explanation of what is happening to make the aurora different colors. This was our first time to see red aurora. It is amazing!
After all of that excitement we had to be sure to get back to the church on Tuesday to meet a plumber. He and Todd assessed all of the radiators and made a list of repairs that are necessary. The plumber also dealt with a leaking pipe in the utility closet. There will be more meetings with the plumber in the future and, while it doesn’t quite compare to seeing the northern lights, having working heat and pipes that don’t leak is still very exciting!
But, do not despair, we had more incredible aurora viewing on Tuesday night. The solar storm was still having its effect and we had another hour of beautiful lights. This time the colors went from pink and lavender to green and orange. I wonder if you will get tired of seeing pictures of the aurora?! What a show we’ve had this winter.
Just so you know we actually did some work this week, aside from being outside gawking at the beauty God has created, here are a few of the things we were working on —
Our emotional resilience class has begun again! In November we did the first five lessons in the course with an online group of two districts in Denmark. Then we took six weeks off, through the holidays and two transfers, and now we are beginning again with the final five lessons. There are only three missionaries in our group now who were with us before so we have new names to learn and young people to grow to love. Unless they are a brand new missionary they did the first half of the course with another senior couple. This week’s lesson was on overcoming anger. We learned about things that heat anger and things that cool anger. We learned the importance of identifying the real problem. And, most importantly, we learned how turning to Jesus Christ can help us learn to control our anger. It is a good lesson and you can read it here.
Near the beginning of each transfer we have a zone wide council meeting. This week we met with the Iceland zone to discuss goals and plans to move forward with the work in Iceland over the next month. These young men are working hard and doing good things! The work was slow through the holidays and the change of the year but things are picking up and they are teaching with power and the Spirit of God!
Because we have new elders we got to take a trip to our favorite disco/phone store to get their phones set up and electronic IDs working. Nova never fails to impress. Todd and I are there so often that several of the staff members know who we are. This week we worked with a gentleman named Christian who is Christian and was interested to hear about our church. We gave him some information and our card and he said he might come to church to see what we are all about. Maybe he will show up on Sunday! Wouldn’t that be something? Below are Elder Pedroza and Elder Gutierrez.
We did take a walk along the coast after going to the disco. The blustery wind and beautiful clouds were calling. Iceland is impressive both day and night!
I had a fun video chat with Sister Mogenhan and Sister Hutchings. These are great women! We were discussing some plans coming up in February and, in addition to sorting out details, we just get along really well. It is a pleasure to work with these good women. I am grateful for them.
Todd and I had an afternoon visit with Victoria. She is one of the new members in the branch and she is giving a talk in sacrament meeting on Sunday. We worked with her a couple of weeks ago to prepare her talk and she wanted us to come back so she could do a practice run through. Victoria’s words and her testimony are so strong! She did a great practice with us and made a few adjustments to her notes. She’s going to do a great job.
Fun fact about Victoria. She has two little girls and she is having a third baby girl on Monday! Yes, she is speaking in sacrament meeting tomorrow and having her baby on Monday. Now that is dedication! Victoria’s talk is on prayer and she is planning to share about how her prayers have been answered. She and her husband are planning to name the new baby Eliana which is a Hebrew name that means “my God has answered”. Isn’t that lovely? We are happy for Victoria and inspired by her dedication and faithfulness.
The apartment building Victoria lives in is right next to an elementary school. As we were leaving the building the children were lining up after recess to go back into school. It was a very rainy and windy day and they were all dressed in rain gear from head to toe. In preparation to go back inside the building the teacher was spraying them down with a hose! I appreciate the practicality of this and I’m sure those children had a fun recess if they didn’t have to worry about getting muddy and wet! Everything is better when you are dressed appropriately. 🙂
I got another walk in at the end of the week, this time around the top of the inlet we live on. There’s no snow but plenty of water and mud!
On Saturday we had a miracle that I’m happy to share with you. Todd did something to his knee and as the morning went on he was in a lot of pain when he was walking. There wasn’t any swelling or redness or any other symptoms. When he was sitting it was fine. But he could barely walk without pain. He reached out to the elders for a blessing. Elder Nehren and Elder Jensen were out working with Christopher, a wonderful member in our branch. They came over to see how they could help.
Elder Jensen offered a prayer of faith in Christ. Brother Christopher used consecrated oil to anoint Todd’s head for a blessing of healing. (This was only the second time Christopher has been able to do this. He is a newer member of the church.) And Elder Nehren pronounced a wonderful blessing of healing. It was a privilege to witness these men exercise their priesthood as we all combined our faith in Jesus Christ. As the afternoon went on Todd was moving a bit better. I had to be at the church for an early evening meeting and he came with me. By the time my meeting was over he was walking without pain, stepping carefully just in case. We are happy to report that he seems to be fine now and we believe that priesthood power can bring healing and comfort. And we are so grateful for worthy priesthood holders. (If you would like to learn more about blessings of healing click here.)
To finish off our week I was happy to attend a relief society training for the presidency in the first branch. Björg is the relief society president, Nohemy is her first counselor, and Doris is her second counselor. We talked through the responsibilities of a relief society presidency and divided up the work that needs to be done among the three sisters. These are good women who love the Lord and the sisters in the branch. They are doing good things together.
Their presidency also has some challenges, mainly with communication. Björg speaks Icelandic, English, & Danish. Nohemy speaks Spanish and she’s getting very good in Icelandic; her English is limited. Doris is from Nigeria. Her English is good and she also speaks her tribal dialect and Italian, but not Icelandic. Just imagine what those presidency meetings look like! They are determined to find good ways to work together to bring the sisters in their branch closer to Christ. I’m grateful for the chance to work with them.
And, finally, for those of you who are interested, here is my knitting report for the week. I’ve made it to 21 cm. When I get to 35 cm I will start on the next step . . . the sleeves!
As we bring this week to a close we send our love and gratitude to you from Iceland. We are grateful for the opportunities we have to work and serve here and for how much we are learning and growing in the process. We are surrounded by the beauty of this country and people and we feel very fortunate. To send you off here is a video Todd made of some of the many aurora pictures we’ve taken recently. Enjoy!
Check out Todd’s social media for more pictures and videos. Do you want to see more aurora photos?! He’s got them! You can find him here:
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